


Here's To You, Dr. Oliver

by lielabell



Category: Power Rangers
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-02
Updated: 2010-10-02
Packaged: 2017-10-25 00:53:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/269876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lielabell/pseuds/lielabell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five Times Conner Tried to Seduce Dr. O. and Failed (And the One Time Dr. O. Seduced Him)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Here's To You, Dr. Oliver

**Author's Note:**

> A million thanks to [](http://second-batgirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**second_batgirl**](http://second-batgirl.livejournal.com/) for the hand holding and tat talk. :)

Five Times Conner Tried to Seduce Dr. O. and Failed (And the One Time Dr. O. Seduced Him)

1.

Conner likes to consider himself a “Man of Action.” In caps and quotes and everything. That’s who he is. He wants something, he goes for it. And damn the consequences. So it surprises no one when he suddenly starts giving Dr. O. the patented Conner T. McKnight come-on. No one except Dr. O., that is. Kira rolls her eyes, shares a look with Ethan and then grabs Trent’s arm and heads out the door. Hayley tries, and fails, not to laugh. She leaves seconds after Kira. Ethan sticks around long enough to down his drink, then winks at Dr. O., who is red faced with embarrassment, and tips an imaginary hat as he departs.

Dr. O., for his part, tries desperately to get Conner to leave by yawning widely, rubbing his eyes and declaring in no uncertain terms that it is time for bed. Conner takes this all in with a smile, then slinks over to where Dr. O. is standing and slides an arm around his waist.

“Let me tuck you in,” he whispers, his lips ghosting across Dr. O.’s jaw. It’s a line he’s used many times before and he’s confident it will work. Which is why he only gloats when Dr. O. bends at the waist, slips his arm under Conner’s legs and hoists him over his shoulder bag-o-potato style. It’s a little caveman, he thinks, but Dr. O. is a “Man of Action” too, so it makes sense. What doesn’t make any sense whatsoever is what happens next: Dr. O. opening the front door, neatly depositing him on the front step and then slamming it shut in Conner’s extremely confused face.

2.

A few months pass, months in which Conner stares forlornly at his fearless leader with eyes full of longing and barely concealed frustration. Everyone on the teams seems understanding, everyone except the merciless Dr. O., who freezes out every attempt Conner makes to talk to him about The Incident. Conner, who doesn’t believe himself to be overly dramatic, feels that he has been wronged. After all, it’s not his fault that he’s still a few months shy of eighteen. Or that Dr. O. is both his teacher and mentor. Or that Dr. O. seems to still be hung up on Trent’s dad, which Conner finds epically creepy because ew, Trent’s dad is _old_.

But then his moment arrives and none of those things matter at all anymore. Because Dr. O. is totally coming-on to _him_. Still, Conner doesn’t really want to be shoved unceremoniously out the door again, so he double checks his facts with Ethan. This is what he tells him:

A: Dr. O. totally asked him to help with a “secret project;” one that involved a lot of late nights together.

B: During those weeks of late nights, Dr. O. commented repeatedly on how mature and grown-up Conner had become. And, yes, he did think it was a little odd for Dr. O. to say “grown-up” like Conner was a toddler and Dr. O. thought he was a very big boy now, but still. Mature. Grown-up. Clearly thinking about him in terms of an adult and not a child. Right?

C: Dr. O. had invited him over next week for dinner. A dinner to discuss Conner’s future. _His future._

At first Ethan isn’t as convinced as Conner would like that all signs point to go. In fact, it takes quite a bit of talking on Conner’s part before Ethan stops shaking his head and poking all sort of holes in Conner’s theories. But eventually he agrees that yes, it was possible that Dr. O. is looking at Conner in a different light. And, yes, Conner should bring up his belief that he and Dr. O. are perfect for each other, should the topic come up naturally. Which is all the reassurance Conner needs to go full steam ahead.

He dresses especially carefully the night of their big dinner. He tries and rejects three different shirts before slipping on the jeans that make his ass look amazing (thank you Cassidy) and causally musses his hair to give it that sexy fresh from bed look (thank you Devin). He arrives five minutes late, because he doesn’t want to seem over eager, and let’s Dr. O. do all the talking until they are finished with desert.

This time he doesn’t try a corny pick-up line. Dr. O. isn’t some high school kid and Conner has learned not to treat him like one. Instead he undoes the top button of his shirt and smiles. Dr. O. shifts in his seat, and that gives Conner the confidence to reach across the table and run a finger over the back of Dr. O.’s hand. Dr. O. jumps like he’s been burned and starts mumbling something about it getting late and gee, there’s work in the morning. Conner smiles again, after all, he isn’t expecting it to be easy.

He slides his chair back and moves around the table. He puts a hand on Dr. O.’s shoulder and leans down. “I just wanted to talk to you a little more about your role in my future,” he says in a husky voice.

Dr. O. jerks upright, the top of his head slamming painfully into Conner’s chin. Conner feels dazed, which is the only reason he can think of for why he doesn’t protest as Dr. O. once again shoves him out the door.

3.

Conner isn’t dense. He’s gets that Dr. O. is _not_ into him. The reason for it is made very clear as short time later when Dr. O. and Hayley start sucking face in all sorts of inconvenient locations. Seriously, anyone could just walk into the back room of the Cyberspace Café and get way more than an eyeful. And while it sucks for him, Conner can relate. After all, Hayley is super hot.

Plus, he happens to notice that Ethan has been giving him the same sorts of looks he was giving Dr. O., and well, Ethan’s not shabby himself in the looks department.

So Conner moves on to Ethan and enjoys himself immensely, and that is that.

A few years pass. Hayley and Dr. O. split up, as does the Dino Thunder team. Kira gets signed to an awesome indie label, Ethan gets into M.I.T., and Conner actually scores a spot on a fairly decent MLS team. It’s not easy making the long distance thing work, but Ethan is everything that Conner ever wanted and it’s totally worth the sacrifices he has to make.

Unfortunately for him, Ethan doesn’t feel the same way. Which is why Conner finds himself on Dr. O.’s front porch clutching a Dear John letter in one hand with a thousand unanswerable questions hammering around in his head.

“I hate to say it, but relationships between former teammates rarely work,” Dr. O. says when Conner starts in about the unfairness of it all. “There’s the exception to the rule, but nine times out of ten, things end badly.”

This isn’t what Conner wants to hear and, though it doesn’t make logical sense, it is the reason why he suddenly launches himself at Dr. O. It’s not his finest moment, Conner reflects later, but at least Dr. O. doesn’t shove him off of his lap and out of his house the way he did a couple years back. Instead he lets Conner finish the kiss, which just happens to be amazing, before shaking his head regretfully.

“Former teammates,” he says gently as he brushes a strand of Conner’s hair off of his face.

Conner nods, mentally kicking himself for doing something so stupid. It doesn’t help that now, on top of all the anger and hurt Ethan’s letter left him with, he feels oddly guilty. Like he somehow degraded what he and Ethan had. Conner leaves a short while later, muttering his apologies, and makes a point not to run to Dr. O. the next time crisis strikes.

4.

Conner eagerly looks forward to his twenty-first birthday. He has a game that day and all the old crew are planning on coming to it with the intents of taking him out afterward for a night to remember. There are many, many ways to make a night memorable, but of all them, ending up halfway naked, making out with Dr. O. is the one that he would have said was least likely to happen. But, yet, somehow it does. And, miracle of miracles, Dr. O. actually doesn’t seem to mind a bit.

Conner isn’t exactly sure how they got here or when all the others left, but the way Dr. O.’s hands feel on him make him very uninterested in finding out. He lets out a low moan as he bucks his hips against Dr. O.’s. and Dr. O. responds with a soft grunt, his hands skimming down to cup Conner’s butt. He pulls Conner closer as his open mouth kisses grow hungrier. Conner rears back slightly, moving just far enough apart to nip his way down Dr. O.’s neck to his well muscled shoulder. When he reaches it, he sinks his teeth in and is rewarded with a sound so full of want it makes his balls tighten.

“God, yes, Dr. O.,” he murmurs as the man in question does something indescribable with his tongue, “don’t stop.”

Which, of course, is when Dr. O. stops. And not in an “I’m not going to move because what you are doing is _so_ good” way either. No. Dr. O. actually manages to lift a protesting Conner off of his lap and sets him unceremoniously down on the floor.

“What the hell did you do that for?” Conner snaps as he reaches out for Dr. O., who easily avoids him.

Dr. O. shakes his head. “Let’s just say I’ve come to my senses. A little late, I know, but I have.”

“That’s bull.” Conner stumbles his way to his feet and lurches towards him.

Dr. O. catches him by the shoulders and holds him steady. He stares right into Conner’s eyes and says, “I’m not saying I’m not interested. I am. But I’m not going to take advantage of a drunk kid.”

“I’m not a kid!” Conner shouts, his hand balling into fists at his side. Dr. O.’s hands drop from his shoulders and for a second Conner thinks that they might be getting back to the happy sexy times, but then his shirt is shoved into his hands and Dr. O. is gripping him firmly by the upper arm. “Damn it! I’m a man,” he bellows as Dr. O. pushes him out of his bedroom and locks the door.

“Sleep it off on the couch,” Dr. O. says through the door. And, being left with no other options, that is exactly what Conner ends up doing.

5.

To say that Conner is embarrassed about the whole drunken throwing himself at his former mentor thing is woefully inadequate. When Kira teases him about it the next day, he becomes so mortified that she vows never to mention it again and loudly encourages everyone else to do the same. His embarrassment is lessened somewhat when he finds out from Hayley a short time later that it was the whole “Dr. O.” thing that ended things. And he can sort of see why. He wouldn’t want to get it on with someone who called him by his title instead of his name either. But still, everything about it just makes him want to cringe to the point where he actively avoids any interaction with Dr. O. for a good five weeks or so.

And, to be honest, it probably would have been longer if Dr. O. hadn’t shown up at one of Conner’s games and forced the issue between them. The end result of that conversation is that Conner starts to call Dr. O. “Tommy” and promises to give things one more try. But, to tell the truth, his heart isn’t really in it. They go on a one rather lack luster date which ends in an intense make-out session, but Conner doesn’t take Tommy up on his offer to come in for one more drink and things sort of just end there. Which is why he was surprised three months later when Tommy calls him up and asks him out on a date.

It turns out that Tommy had another date lined up, but it whoever it was with backed out at the last moment, leaving Tommy with two tickets and no one to go with. Conner isn’t exactly thrilled to find out he’s a back up date, but it isn’t anything a free dinner and show can’t cure. The play is actually fairly good, the female lead in particular is amazing, though finding out that she is one of Tommy’s ex-girlfriends is less so. But Katherine (please call me Kat) turns out to be just as amazing in person as she is on stage.

The three of them share drinks and laughs, and, most unexpectedly of all, opinions about the newest batch of Rangers. From the slight pauses and knowing looks passing between Kat and Tommy, Conner gets the impression that she is aware of the more interesting parts of Tommy’s past and quite possibly is in the know about more recent events as well, but he doesn’t want to say anything in case he is mistaken. After a few hours, the threesome breaks up. Kat heads off to her hotel and Conner and Tommy end up in Tommy’s car.

There is a long, awkward moment before Tommy asks if Conner wants to be taken home. Conner, who is by now an old pro at long, awkward moments, just nods. They don’t talk as they drive and Tommy insists on seeing Conner to the door when they get there. Uncomfortable small talk is made as they climb the stairs to Conner’s apartment, and when they reach his front door, Conner feels almost obligated to invite Tommy in.

It’s clear from how quickly Tommy responds that it is what the other man was expecting.

Things are going better than they ever have for Conner on the Tommy front. But, when push comes to shove, Conner doesn’t really care. Yes, Tommy’s mouth is still one of the most erotic things on the planet. And, yes, the sounds Tommy makes as Conner unbuttons his shirt are intensely gratifying, but the overwhelming sense that, oh my god, he is making-out with _Tommy_ never comes.

When they are both down to their slacks and all the mirrors in the living room have been fogged up, Conner makes the offer. Tommy bites his lower lip, which is an odd enough reaction that Conner actually feels some of that old thrill. Then he shakes his head and, frankly, it’s relief that courses through Conner’s veins.

“You’re just not that into it,” Tommy says, his voice slightly bewildered. Conner nods and watches as Tommy fumbles his way back into his shirt. Tommy studies him for a while, his brow furrowed, then he says, "What I don't get is why," in such a hesitation manner that Conner feels like he might actually have offended him.

Conner frowns, for the first time trying to figure out what it is that has changed. "You're a real person now," he says slowly.

Tommy makes a dismissive noise. "I was always a real person."

"No, you weren't." Conner shakes his head for emphasis. "First you were my hot science teacher. Then you were my hot mentor. _Then_ you were my hot teammate who happened to be the most awesome former Ranger ever." He lifts a shoulder. "You were never a person to me, with faults and bad habits and the like. Instead you were this ridiculously hot older man that I really wanted to," Conner clears his throat and flushes. "Well, anyway. You get the point."

"And now that I'm real, I'm not hot any more?"

"God, no." Conner laughs. "You're still totally hot. But you're also someone I care about, not some random person in my spank bank."

Tommy gives a half hearted laugh at that. "So pretty much you're saying that we are better off friends?"

Conner reluctantly nods. "Yeah, I guess so. I like you a lot as a person, Tommy. Plus, you yourself said that relationships with former teammates never work. And I don't want that. Some people are friends with their exes, but I'm not one of them. I rarely, if ever, talk to Ethan. It would suck massively if that happened with you."

"I can't believe I'm getting the 'it would ruin our friendship' blow off," Tommy gripes, but there is more humor than anger to the words. He runs a hand through his hair. "Well, in that case I'd best be on my way."

Conner sees him to the door and gives him a friendly smile. Tommy smiles back, but there is something in his eyes that tells Conner he won’t be seeing his old friend again any time soon.

6.

Five years later there is a knock on the door and when Conner answers it he is nearly blown away. Because there is Dr. O. on his doorstep without any warning at all. Tommy is slightly more bulked up than Conner remembers and there is definitely a tattoo peeking out from his shirt sleeve that wasn’t there the last time they met, but other than that it is the same old Tommy. Conner is momentarily flummoxed, and not only because he is shirtless in a tatty pair of shorts and sporting about a day and half worth of stubble.

“Dr. O., Tommy!” he corrects himself, stepping back to let the other man in. “What brings you to this neck of the woods?”

“You,” Tommy answers with a crooked grin.

Conner gives him a blank look. “Me?”

Tommy sucks his bottom lip into his mouth and nods. He walks into the living room and looks around. “Nice place. Better than that dump you use to rent,” he says with a chuckle.

“Yeah, well.” Conner lets out a self-depreciating laugh. “Getting a bigger pay check helps. Which was the reason I moved here, remember?” He gestures to the couch. “Have a seat. I’ll go and clean up and,” his voice trails off as Tommy shakes his head.

“Don’t bother on my account.”

Conner furrows his brow. “Um, okay. I guess I’ll just,” he plops down onto one of the armchairs and a second later Tommy settles himself on the couch. “So, what’s up?”

Tommy rubs his chin, looking faintly puzzled. “I, damn.” He shakes his head again and mutters under his breath, “I told them this wouldn’t work.”

“Told who what wouldn’t work?”

“The girls,” Tommy makes a face. “You know how they are. They think that they can just rearrange the world to fit their liking.”

Conner grins, instantly at ease. “Oh man, I am so glad I don’t have anything like your girls in my past. But seriously, why are you here? Not that it isn’t great to see you, but it’s not like you were just in the neighborhood. Not unless you decided to hop the pond and didn’t bother telling me.”

Tommy laughs. “Yeah right. I could never live outside of California. It just wouldn’t seem right. No, like I said, it was the girls. They got me a ticket out here for my birthday.”

“Your birthday?” Conner raises his eyebrows. “As in, the one you had three months ago? That one?”

“Yup.”

“And you’re just telling me now?” Conner pulls a face of mock outrage. “Dude, I thought we were better friends than that.”

Tommy sort of squirms in his seat. “Well,” a short, but heavy pause, “honestly, I didn’t think I was going to use them.”

Conner leans back in his chair and kicks his feet up onto the coffee table. “Why not?” He gives Tommy an accessing look. “I mean, I haven’t seen you in what, three years? And if seeing me wasn’t a big enough draw, there is the fact that there is this whole continent that you haven’t been on before. And, you know, a free trip to somewhere far off and exotic is nothing to sniff at.”

“Nothing to sniff at?” Tommy mocks. Conner flips him the bird and Tommy laughs again, then sobers and says, “I guess it’s ‘cause it came with a catch.”

Conner rolls his eyes. “It’s the girls. Of course there’s a catch.” He expects Tommy to give him one of his easy laughs, or at least a smile, but instead he looks more uncomfortable than ever. Conner frowns and runs a hand through his hair. “And I’m part of the catch?” he guesses.

Tommy nods and opens his mouth, but Conner cuts him off by holding up a hand. “No, dude, let’s at least have a beer and chill a little before you drop it on me. After all, you are practically my only friend from home these days and I would rather just, you know, enjoy your company for a bit before I have whatever drama Kim, Kat and Hayley cooked up heaped on my head.”

Tommy doesn’t even crack a smile and that makes something in Conner’s belly twist. He forces himself not to let the panic rising in him show as he makes his way over to the kitchen and roots around in the fridge. “What do you want?” he calls out.

“I dunno,” Tommy responds. “What do you have?”

“Uh,” he studies the bottles of beer without really seeing them, “nothing you would recognize.”

“Give me something pale and fizzy,” Tommy jokes. “Since that is what you say all American beers are like.”

“They are,” Conner shoots back, eager to latch onto something to talk about. He reaches in a grabs a bottle. “Try this,” he says as he emerges. “It’s a Trumer Pils, which is something you can even get back in the states.”

Tommy curls his lip. “You don’t have a good, old fashion Bud?”

Conner gives him a horrified look. “Tommy, I love you like a brother, but you got shit taste.” He opens the bottle and pours the contents into two glasses. Then he carries them over to the living room and hands one over to Tommy, who eyes it warily. He takes a cautious sip, then grins.

“Hey! This isn’t so bad.”

“Isn’t so bad,” Conner mocks. “It’s only a gold metal beer. But I guess it’s alright if you can’t have a Bud.”

Tommy takes a swig of his drink and gives Conner the finger. “I don’t know when you got so high and mighty,” he says as he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.

“And I don’t know when you got that tattoo,” Conner shoots back, then flushes. Because, really, he didn’t need Tommy to know that he noticed. Or that he cared. Because he doesn’t. At all. Oh shit. He takes a large mouthful of the pilsner and ignores the look that Tommy is giving him.

“I wrote you about it,” Tommy says after far too long a pause. “Did you forget?”

Conner makes a face as he thinks back, then shakes his head. “No way. You told me about the lightening bolt on your wrist and I was in on the whole “Once a Ranger, Always a Ranger” in Aquitian thing, since I have that on my back too. Oh! And the dragon claw from your dragon coin on your shoulder, you got that last year, right?” he glances at Tommy, who nods. “But what’s that?” he leans over and touches the blue ink on Tommy’s bicep.

“What that?” Tommy glances down at it and Conner snatches his hand away as if burned. Tommy smirks a bit, then stands up and reaches for the hem of his shirt. “That you just got to see for yourself.”

For a moment Conner is too drop-jawed over Tommy’s rocking body to do anything more than gape, but somehow he manages to pull his gaze away from those abs of steel long enough to take in the tattoo. And then he was drop-jawed for a completely different reason. “Holy fuck! I want one!” he says before his brain catches up with him mouth.

Tommy lets out a soft chuckle. “She’s a beauty, isn’t she?”

“Did you draw it yourself?” Conner moves closer to get a better look. “Or?”

“No way, I haven’t got an artistic bone in my body. Some artist Tanya knows did it for me. I guess Tanya told him that I have a degree in paleontology and an almost unhealthy obsession with the Dino Thunder Rangers. She got him stills of all the morphers and this is what he came up with. I’ve got the original artwork hanging in my house and I’ll totally send you a scan if you want to get something similar.” He runs a finger over Conner’s bicep. “It would look sweet on you.”

Suddenly Conner is ridiculously aware of the fact that he is standing shirtless in his living room. And that Tommy is too. “That would be awesome, bro,” he says with forced casualness.

“Awesome,” Tommy repeats, letting his hand drop. He takes a step back and bends down for his beer. “Look,” he says after he takes a drink, “I’ve got a confession to make.”

“Does it involve the reason why the girls bought you a ticket to a far off and exotic land?”

Tommy nods. He lifts a shoulder almost shamefacedly, then blurts out, “They think we should give it another chance.”

This completely catches Conner off guard. “They what?”

“Think we should, and I quote, ‘just fuck already.’ Thank you, Kat.” Tommy winces a little, but still has a slightly hopeful look in his eyes.

Conner, for his part, can’t stop a massive grin from sliding onto his face. “Why Dr. O.,” he teases, “you're trying to seduce me.”

Tommy lets out a belly laugh, then smiles and says, “Would you like me to seduce you?” in a falsetto.

“I don’t know.” Conner puts on a sham look of concern. “Will it end with you shoving me out the door before I get a chance to do any of the good stuff?”

“Oh, trust me, you’ll get to do all the good stuff. Some of the bad stuff too.” Tommy toys with the buckle of his belt and shoots Conner what is clearly his smoldering look.

Conner steps back and drops down into his armchair. He spreads his legs wide and waves a hand. “Seduce away,” he intones.

“Christ, I was hoping you would say that.” Tommy walks to him and leans forward, bracing his hands on the arms of the chair. His necklace swings forward and Conner reaches up to catch it. He tugs on it slightly, pulling Tommy’s head down towards him. When their lips meet, it’s like sparks are running under his skin.

 _Would you look at that, I’m being seduced by Dr. Tommy Oliver,_ Conner thinks as his hands eagerly slide up Tommy’s neck to tangle in his hair. _I’ll be damned._


End file.
